Another Day in the Life Of
by Saoirse7
Summary: Sarcasm. Potentially deadly gas. Crazy men wielding lightsabers. What could be better?


"Relax."

"I am relaxed," I spoke through gritted teeth.

"No, you aren't," my master returned calmly. "Don't you think I know you better than that?"

I sighed, intentionally not answering him, and turned just slightly sideways so he wouldn't see me roll my eyes.

Really, I was relaxed—as relaxed as I could be, that is. Mentally preparing oneself for intense combat wasn't exactly a massage.

"Don't get uptight with me, Anakin," my mentor's voice broke through my thoughts. "You know that a—"

"—Jedi must be in complete control of his emotions at all times," I quoted with him. "I know, I know." I'd heard Obi-Wan's mantras so many times I could make a book of them—from memory.

"Well?"

Sarcasm dripped from his tone, and I heard the unasked question: If I knew the principle, why didn't I apply it more often?

I shifted positions in the lift and stifled a groan. These were the times that I was sure that if the Masters would allow me to take the trials, I would pass them with flying colors—and get out from under Obi-Wan's thumb. Why did he always have to be right, anyway? I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, striving to quiet my thoughts and regain control of my raging instinct to pick a fight.

"I'm working on it, Master," I muttered finally, seeing as he was still expecting an answer. I had hoped it was a rhetorical question.

The lift jerked and stopped suddenly, causing both of us to be on instant alert for anything out of the ordinary.

"What in the— R2, do you copy?" Obi-Wan spoke into his comlink, receiving an answering BLEEP a few moments later. "Can you determine our location?" A series of beeps and whistles followed after a short pause. Obi-Wan nodded, taking this all in. "How about getting us started again?"

We didn't have to wait long. Only a few seconds later, the lift began plummeting downward. "No! R2!" my master practically screamed into the comlink. "Upward!" Our lift stopped so abruptly that both of us lost our balance, and switched quickly as it was soon shooting toward the roof.

"Ooh, I don't feel so good," I moaned.

"Anakin, you had better not be—" He shot a glance at my face, realizing by my mischievous grin that I was joking. He sighed, a long, exasperated sigh that I had unfortunately heard many times before. "Anakin—" he began, then stopped and shook his head. Apparently, there was nothing else to say.

Unexpectedly, the lift stopped again, rocking slightly. The doors hissed open, and the first thing I noticed was the smoke, oppressively thick and dark.

I glanced over at my master, to find his blue-green eyes on me. He gave a solemn nod, and I nodded back, having caught the silent message. Years of practicing with someone did that to you.

At the same time, we took a deep breath, then slowly exited the lift, one hand secured on our lightsaber. It looked like the party was going to start a little sooner than I had expected.

xxxxxxx

I crept along a wall as my master covered the opposite one, struggling to be alert to any movement or disturbance of some kind. But my eyes were getting very heavy. I didn't remember being this tired in the lift…

The dream I almost had was interrupted sharply by a whack on the head from Obi-Wan. I could sense his annoyance rather than see it as he mentally urged me to take another breath. Apparently, there was something in the smoke, like gas, that I had unintentionally breathed.

_Great, that makes things even easier. Not._

My master disappeared around a corner, and I followed, not wanting to be too far away with my near-disaster still fresh in my mind. As soon as we turned to keep going, however, I realized right away that we had made a grave mistake.

Two large doors slammed shut as soon as we rounded the bend, and the smoke began to dissipate, but only slightly. Out of the dark, two lightsabers ignited—one blue, one green. I cast an incredulous look towards Obi-Wan, but he wasn't paying attention. I could faintly see his jaw twitching as his eyes scanned the room, and the gears turning in his head were almost visible as he was undoubtedly formulating a plan for escape.

Well, escape wasn't on my mind. Not at the top, at least. I wanted to know who this crazy adversary was with not one, but two specifically Jedi lightsabers.

Without any prior thought of what I was doing, I gave a yell and launched myself into the air, igniting my lightsaber as I went. There was a satisfactory CRASH as my blade hit against one of his, and the humanoid immediately turned on me, wielding the twin blades with deadly skill.

I instantly regretted my reckless decision, since battling against two potentially fatal beams of energy took way more concentration and ability than I'd bargained for. But, even though I knew I'd be chastised for it later, me distracting our foe gave Obi-Wan the split second he needed to make a joint attack.

Because our vision was mostly obscured by the smoke, he too announced his presence by crying out as he rushed into the fight. I heard his lightsaber connect solidly with the other of the enemy's blades, as it had spun around quickly to face my master. But, now being swamped on both sides, in addition to needing the extra amount of dexterity to properly handle two blades, our opponent began falling back, albeit just slightly.

_Why were we sent on this mission again?_ I wondered vaguely as we continued to battle. _Because it looks like this guy's an expert at taking out Jedi_.

Ducking as one of his lightsabers swiped right where my head had been, I swiveled around and saw my chance. Thrusting my own weapon up, I felt it connect with something solid, and my actions elicited a cry of agony as one of his blades fell to the floor, deactivating on impact.

But just because we had wounded him didn't mean that our unseen enemy was out of the fight. In fact, the injury seemed only to enrage him, and the blows from his remaining lightsaber increased in both force and frequency.

I struggled to maintain my side of the battle, but found my endurance running dangerously low. Yet I knew that if our opponent was able to separate us, then it was over. Together we were able to steadily gain ground; divided we would fall.

With no other options left and not enough experience in this sort of combat, I shut my mind down and let the Force do its work. Dodge, parry, slice, dodge, parry, slice—the pattern continued over and over again. Spin and do a front flip over to the other side of the foe. Parry, slice, block and hold against the blade's pressure. Dodge, parry, slice.

Suddenly, I felt myself forcibly shoved backwards, and I fell stumbling against a metal wall, landing hard on my left knee. I bit back a cry of pain but couldn't repress a grimace as I lay there for a moment, panting. Except when I tried to get back up, I couldn't. I could put no weight on my knee at all.

In pure irritation, I glared back up at our attacker, and, on impulse, dug up from my training how to employ a Force push. And I used it. With all of my might.

That push thrust him back just enough to catch him off guard, and in that moment, Obi Wan gave the decisive blow. Our opponent crumpled to the ground, his other lightsaber also deactivating. The smoke had cleared some more by now, and I hobbled over to join my master in inspecting just what we had come up against.

"It seems he was trained in some of the Jedi arts," he spoke in a low voice. "But I can't imagine how. Unless, perhaps, he had been trained, and then fallen away."

I shook my head. "I don't know, Master. That's the only option, isn't it?"

"Therein lies the question, my young apprentice. Therein lies the question." He pursed his lips in a thoughtful pose. "Secure the area while I discuss this turn of events with the Council."

"Uh, Master?"

"What?"

"I don't think that's exactly possible." I indicated my knee, where I was gingerly putting pressure on it to simply stand up.

"What happened?" Obi Wan's face was hard and mildly annoyed, probably because I had gotten myself hurt—again. Well, it wasn't exactly my fault this time.

"The guy pushed me backwards and I fell. I don't know what I did to it, except it hurts when I put any stress on it." I smiled weakly, hoping he wouldn't be too frustrated with me.

My master sighed, once more a lengthy, long-suffering sigh. "Anakin, how _do_ you get yourself into so much trouble? Never mind. Don't answer that." He ran a hand over his face and absentmindedly scratched the back of his neck as he deliberated over the situation. "Okay. I'll secure the area, you let the Council know what happened and that I will explain everything in further detail when we get there. Understood?"

I nodded.

"Good." He began to walk away, then turned suddenly with one last instruction. "Oh, and don't forget to tell them about your little," his gaze flitted down to my knee and back up to my face, "mishap. Basically explain why you're the one doing the calling and not me."

"Of course, Master." I smiled in a way that I hoped was reassuring, but he didn't look quite convinced. Oh, well. At least he wasn't the one who had to tell the Council that I was down until I got better. Which meant that we were both downed, because the Masters wouldn't send Obi Wan out on a mission without me. I couldn't hold back a wince as I ran a hand through my cropped hair. Yes, well, this was going to take some delicacy.

**Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate it if you let me know your thoughts!**


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